A deal with the devil: Former shuttle manager decries NASA’s commercial crew safety regulations. Key quote:
The U.S. government did not always rely on voluminous specifications to safeguard pilots or astronauts, Hale said, citing requirements for the first U.S. military aircraft which covered only 2.5 pages and those of NASA’s Gemini capsule which were about 12 pages long.
Hooray for private space! SpaceShipTwo successfully completed its third glide flight yesterday.
This post by retired NASA engineer Wayne Hale explains why it probably is a good idea if Congress cuts the subsidies for new commercial space: The coming train wreck for commercial human spaceflight. This is the key quote, where Hale describes the regulations NASA is requiring these new companies to meet:
The document runs a mind-numbing 260 pages of densely spaced requirements. Most disappointing, on pages 7 to 11 is a table of 74 additional requirements documents which must be followed, in whole or in part. Taken all together, there are thousands of requirement statements referenced in this document. And for every one NASA will require a potential commercial space flight provider to document, prove, and verify with massive amounts of paperwork and/or electronic forms.
The cold war is back! Companies in the U.S. and Russia are in a race to build the first private space stations.
Orbital Sciences today successfully completed the first test of the first stage engine for its Taurus II rocket, the rocket the company plans to use in sending cargo to ISS.
The commercial suborbital industry responds to the recent science paper that said that the soot from their rocket engines might cause to global warming.
Yesterday SpaceShipTwo completed its second successful free flight (via Clark Lindsey at www.rlvnews.com). The results:
Flew to more aggressive stall indication. Evaluated handling and stability through several maneuvers. Expanded envelope to 230 KTAS and 3g’s. Roll evaluation. Full stop landing.
Our government at work! The FAA has given SpaceX a license to launch the Dragon capsule, scheduled for a November 18 launch on the Falcon 9 rocket, but not yet given them a license to land.
The rocket launch company Sea Launch has exited bankruptcy under Russian ownership.
Is this a great country or what? The company that is performing the zero gravity beer test on November 19 is selling advertising space on the astronaut’s flight suit to anyone with a few thousand dollars cash.
Bigelow is expanding its factory, and here’s a gallery of images showing the work’s progress.
More government idiocy: Tax official threatens to shut down kids‘ pumpkin stand for lacking “a proper permit.”
